Kill – A Brutal Thrill Ride That Takes No Prisoners

Through the years, films have seen quite a lot of things happen on trains but audiences have surely not seen anything like Kill before. This Hindi production takes the action genre to new, brutal heights. A film that will certainly not be for the faint of heart, it leaves quite the body count in its wake as each blow and act of violence inflicted can be felt. With a brutality befitting of its 18A/R rating, it takes no prisoners, running at a fast pace and featuring some of the most impressive fight choreography in recent memory, made even more impressive when factoring in the tight confines of its setting. Ultimately, audiences who show up for a film like this usually don’t do so for their stories, and this story is essentially irrelevant in relation to everything else going on, they do so for the action and the action here will more than satisfy fans of the genre. Whittled down to its essence, the basics still shine through in a battle of good against evil, driven by love. And what shines through above everything else is the absolute star-making performance from Lakshya. A force in every sense of the word, and with boatloads of charm and charisma to boot, he is a blast to watch as he mows down everyone and everything in his path.

As mentioned, Kill mostly takes place on a train but to set the stage, once army commando Amrit (Lakshya) discovered that the love of his life, Tulika (Maniktala), was forced into an engagement against her will, he decided to board a New Delhi bound train to intercept her and stop the arranged marriage. However, that train ride obviously developed into something so much more as a gang of knife-wielding bandits joined the party. Seemingly there for no other reason than to cause mischief, their plan changed upon learning about the other VIPs that happened to be on the same train. Keeping the other passengers in line through fear and intimidation, the bandits were getting by. Led by the vicious Fani (Juyal), the situation quickly changed as his ego and ambition got in the way. Though Amrit, and his fellow comando best friend Viresh (Chauhan), did their best to fend off the bandits and protect the other passengers, the numbers game proved to be a difficult challenge to overcome as the two took their fair share of damage along the way. That being said, it was like a switch was flipped within Amrit when one particular loss sent him over the edge.

Finding a second breath, this is where the film truly began as Amrit leaned into his darkness as the train was yet the latest battlefield and Fani and the other bandits were the latest combattants standing between he and victory. While the numbers were still not in his favor, there was just something in this new version of him that inspired confidence. But that change was not lost on Fani, who took the challenge Amrit posed to his ego personally and wanted to prove himself to, and get revenge for having been shown up in front of, his fellow bandits, for whom were his family. Spending much of his time as the hunted, using his special set of skills, he became the hunter. What evolved into a game of wits and sheer might between both men, each wanted revenge against the other in one way or another. Often beholden to his duty as a commando in the Indian army, the line between bringing them to justice and simply getting revenge at all costs increasingly blurred until Amrit fully gave in to the latter. Disposing anyone or anything in his way in brutal fashion, a final showdown was inevitable and it did not disappoint. Though at the end of the day, in another battle of good vs. evil, the outcome was never in question. However, Kill was never about the starting point or the destination, it was about the journey and what a journey it was.

In the end, Kill would not have succeeded if not for the combo of the film’s impressive and frenetic fight choreography and the camerawork which kept track of it all throughout. Despite the violence and the brutality that came with it, it was a joy to watch as it made full use of the confines of its train setting. With all its many facets and intricacies, it was another vital character in the story. Above all else, what ties everything together was the star-making performance from Lakshya as Amrit. For lack of a better word, he was just cool. He has all the right pieces to be a great leading man. With enough charm and charisma to carry a film and the physicality to be an action star, he more than handled himself and was a blast to watch. Meanwhile, his chemistry with Chauhan as Viresh was another highlight. 

Overall, Kill is a brutal thrill ride and an absolute blast that packs a punch and takes no prisoners with impressively-choreographed action and a force of a performance from Lakshya.

still courtesy of Roadside Attractions

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.